Selfless
by Hart Matters
Summary: "It's Lucas and Riley. Riley and Lucas. It's been them since the first day in the subway. I don't fit into this equation. What I feel? It doesn't matter!" Maya wiped at the corners of her eyes, some of the fresh paint messin' up her pale skin. Told in the Point of View of Zay Babineaux.


**I don't normally do First Person POVs, so this will probably seem a little awkward at times.**  
 **Anyway, there's no real set couple for this story. My little note at the end will help you understand.**

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Selfless. That's how I would explain her. Maya Hart was extremely selfless.

She always put Riley's feelings before her own. In fact, she may have even learned it from Riley. A long time ago, Maya said that she wanted to be the best person that she could be, she said—and I quote—, "Riley Matthews is the best person I can be." She may think that she's helping out everyone else, but I can see the hurt she tries to hide deep inside of her.

Now, I may have not been there when she said all of that. Actually, I haven't been part of the squad since the beginning, but you couldn't pull the wool over my eyes if you tried. You see, Lucas is my best friend, and when he was in New York and I was still over in Texas, he'd tell me of all the adventures him and his friends went on, all the cool new lessons they learned, and how he finally felt like he was able to successfully turn over a new leaf.

He told me about the boy genius that was Farkle Minkus. He was one of the few to open Lucas with open arms. Being the new kid is hard—trust me, I know—, but Farkle and Lucas connected like they had known each other their whole lives. Lucas would tell me that Farkle was extremely smart and he had no shame in it at all, but sometimes he didn't know when to shut up. That super observant mouth of his would have gotten him into trouble if it weren't for Lucas. Now that I've spent a couple of years here, too, I can definitely say that Farkle's genius is too much to contain.

Then there was Riley Matthews, the pretty brunette. From what Lucas had told me before I moved, he seemed to be quite smitten over her. She was the kind of girl you'd bring home to Mrs. Friar. She was as close to a literal ray of sunshine as anyone on this planet could get. She was smart, humble, cheerful, positive, and just an all around sweet girl. All of this were true when I met her for the first time. Riley Matthews cared deeply about her friends and it was evident in every single moment she was alive. Nearly no one cared about their friends as much as she did.

Except for Maya Hart, the "Blonde Beauty" as Lucas had put it. Maya Hart cared for Riley Matthews more than anyone could begin to imagine. Maybe it was because for a very long time, Riley Matthews was one of the few things in Maya's life that was constant. She never had to question Riley's friendship. So maybe that is why Maya Hart put Riley's feelings before her own. Maybe it was her form of gratitude for always sticking around. Or maybe… Maybe it was because Maya wanted her to stick around.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The way Lucas described Maya to me over the phone, I could tell that he thought highly of her. He would talk about her hobbies, her interests, the little details about her. He would tell me when she was having a bad day, he would ask me, "Do you think I did something wrong?" when she wouldn't talk to him for a day. It was the little intricate details that Lucas picked up on that made me think that he was head over heels for her.

Honestly, I still stand by that. I've been in in New York now for almost six years. We've all grown up, we're all graduating high school soon. And in these six years that I've been here, I can see the way that Lucas looks at Maya. I can see the way that Lucas doesn't even notice that he's fallen for her so hard that he's stuck in a 6 foot deep hole with no way of climbing out.

Let me catch you up to speed with everything currently going on.

Lucas and Riley have been dating on and off since sophomore year of high school. It took a lot of persuasion—we can all thank Maya for that—, but they eventually made it official. In fact, Riley was the one to ask him out. When Lucas didn't respond right away, Maya scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Come on, Ranger Rick. We don't have all day. We all know you wanna' say yes," she had said. At first, he glanced at Maya, a little uneasy, but when she shoved him towards her best friend, it was like there was no evidence of the prior hesitation on Lucas' face.

One day, I confronted Maya 'bout her feelings.

"Alright, Blondie. Spill, what's going on with you?" I found her after school one day in the art room. It was the same day I saw a hint of jealousy in Maya's eyes when Riley and Lucas were being their usual cutesy lovey dovey selves during lunch. She had abruptly left, saying she was going to work on her student art show piece.

"What do you mean? Zay, nothing's going on with me" She took her eyes off her canvas to look at me, paintbrush in hand.

"Uhuh," I wasn't having it. I pointed at her painting. "So what's this?" The painting was of a pair of green eyes. There was so much intricate detailing, I had to remember that I was making a point so I wouldn't get lost in it.

"My piece," she said in a matter of fact tone. She went back to painting the high lights in the irises.

"Why are the eyes green?"

Maya shrugged her shoulders. "Lucas was around when I was starting this and he wanted me to do a painting of him."

"Okay okay. So, why is there a brunette girl who looks a lot like our ray of sunshine in the reflection, hmm?" I had my arms crossed over my chest with a raised brow, watching as her face contorted a bit as she glanced at me. She was looking at me like I was crazy! Me? The crazy one?

"It's a tribute to my best friends. They've wanted this since the sixth grade, Zay. It was about time it happened for real!"

I walked behind Maya, and crouched down just slightly so that my mouth was just by her ear. I placed a hand on one shoulder, and then pointed at the painting again. "Wanna tell me why there's a little blonde girl behind the brunette, looking pretty bummed out?"

I stood back up again when Maya turned 'round, blonde hair whipping behind her.

"Is it that obvious?"

I gave her a slow nod and she quickly turned back to her painting, mixing the paints on her plate to get the right shade of green. It matched Lucas' eyes perfectly, and I'm not talking about the painting version of Lucas.

"Well it's a good thing acrylics dry up fast, right? I can just paint over it and it's like it was never there." She spoke nervously. I could tell. The way she clenched her paintbrush in her hand and shook was sign enough for me that she was 'bout to break.

"You can't just paint over your feelings, Maya. They're still gonna be there." If breaking is what she needed to do in order to admit her feelings out loud, then I guess I'd have to move the process along.

Maya turned to face me one last time, throwing the brush and acrylic paints on the ground. Her whole body was shakin' and her eyes were shut tightly, tears escaping from the corners. "Zay," she pleaded, "What am I supposed to do?" Her shoulders were shaking as she sobbed and she tried to do her best to speak between her shaking breaths. I felt horrible. This strong young woman was crumbling at the seams right in front of me. "It's Lucas and Riley. Riley and Lucas. It's been them since the first day in the subway. I don't fit into this equation. What I feel? It doesn't matter!"

Maya wiped at the corners of her eyes, some of the fresh paint messin up her pale skin. It honestly hurt to see her in pain like this. I sighed and pulled her to me. She clutched my blue plaid sihrt, soaking it in those tears of hers. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, rubbing her back in a circular motion in hopes to calm her down. "Maya, listen. You and your feelings matter as much as Lucas' and Riley's. Everything you do, say, and feel—all of it— is valid. Don't ever think that it doesn't matter. Riley and Lucas have been on and off for ages, and yeah. I guess they're a couple. But before any of that, they are your friends." I pulled her away from my chest so I could look her in the eyes. She opened her eyes and I gave her the best smile I could give her. "We are all your friends. And you matter to all of us as much as we matter to you. You got that?"

She gave a sad pathetic excuse for a nod, but I could tell from the smile on her face that I had gotten through to her.

"Good," I pulled her in for a hug and sat on the artist bench beside her. "Now get yourself cleaned up. You need some ice cream."

We were at Topanga's, sitting on the pair of couches eating our ice cream. Since that day, we made it a weekly thing to grab ice cream to talk about how she felt 'bout everything. I felt pretty proud that she trusted me with all of these things that she would normally keep bottled up inside.

Maya was telling me about how Lucas and Riley were on one of their breaks again. "He showed up at my window about a month ago, telling me he called it off again."

I nodded and swallowed my spoonful of ice cream. "Yeah, Lucas called me. Peculiar that he had to see you in person right after it happened, don't you think?"

I raised a brow at her, trying to cheer her up. I knew it worked when she nearly choked on her ice cream and rolled her eyes. "Stop that. I've told you over and over that Lucas and I are just friends. They're just on a break. They have these things all the time, they'll get back together in no time."

I shrugged my shoulders and bit into the cone with a crunch. "Mmm, don't be too sure about that, Maya. They usually never last this long. They're usually back to suckin' each other's faces off within a weekend of their break."

I finished up the very tip of my cone and leaned back against the couch. "So, funny thing happened yesterday?"

"Yeah? What happened?"

"You see," I began, leaning forward to place my elbows on my knees as I looked at the blonde sitting next to me. "I was over at Lucas' house playing video games and stuff. Talkin' about guy stuff. Doin' guy stuff," she interrupted me with a scoff and a roll of her eyes. I rolled my eyes right back at her then continued on with my story. "When all of a sudden he was in a hurry to leave. Asked him, 'Hey man. What's the rush?' And you know what he said, Maya?"

I smirked at her as she stuffed the last of her ice cream cone into her mouth, probably using it as an excuse to not speak up. "He said, 'Told Maya I'd see her today'." I poked my finger at her sides, trying to pry information out of her. "So, what did you guys do, huh? Were you guys talkin'? Doin' grown up stuff?"

She swatted my hands away from her. "Nothing! We didn't do anything. We're just friends. We just hung out is all. Watched a movie. He said he had something important to tell me but I told him it was getting late, so he left. And—"

"And you told him to meet you at Topanga's today, right?" I stared right behind her.

"What? How'd you know?! Are you psychic Zay Babineaux?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets."

I stood up and made my way over to Lucas who had just walked in behind her. I grabbed his outstretched hand, and pulled him in for a hug where I patted his back. "Hey, man. Maya and I were just talkin' bout ya'."

Lucas smiled and nervously rubbed his hands together. "Oh, nothing bad I hope. I really gotta tell her something important."

I knew what he was going to tell her. I knew about it the moment he started telling me 'bout her over the phone back in sixth grade. I knew about it when I came to New York and I saw the way he looked at her, the way they played their little game. "I'm sure you do. I'll be over there if you two need anything." With my thumb, I pointed behind us at the table closest to the register. I gave him a wink, one he didn't catch and made my over to the seats, watching them closely.

Lucas took a seat next to Maya and rubbed his hands on the jean fabric of his pants. That boy was definitely nervous. I tried really hard not to smile as Maya shot me a death glare.

"Hey Bucky McBoingBoing. How's Mrs. Friar today?" Maya crossed one leg over the other, trying her best to avoid eye contact. It was probably because she'd crumble the moment they looked at each other and he spilled the beans.

"She's good." He said. I fought to keep myself in my seat. Just tell her already, dude!

"So.." He started out slow. Really slow. "Riley and I have been on a break for a month and two weeks now," Maya nodded, a large smile on her face. "That's longer than usual. And in that time you have been… great to me."

"Well, what friend wouldn't be, Lucas?"

Lucas smiled and nodded his head. "Thanks for that."

"You're welcome." Maya smiled at him proudly, as if she should had been awarded the best friend award.

"I never really told you the reason for why I suggested the break between me and Riley, did I, shortstack?"

Ohhh, here it comes. This is about to be good. Cue the dramatic readings, the rain, the lights! I swear this was like those scenes in the movies. I couldn't look away.

"No, not this time."

"Well, I told Riley that things just weren't the same anymore. Things weren't adding up, and well I told her that I might have feelings for—"

Lucas stopped dead in his tracks. Riley had walked in, balling her eyes out. She was blindly walking passed everything, tears in her eyes, hands covering her face. She stumbled a bit, bumping into the edges of tables and legs of chairs, but she made it to me where she asked, "Zay," she shobbed, "Where's my mom? Is she here?"

Lucas stood up from his seat, looking over in Riley's direction, his curiosity piquing. Maya, too, stood up and asked, "Is she okay?"

Topanga came from the kitchen, wrapping her daughter up in her arms. "Honey, what's wrong?" Riley shook, gripping onto her mom for comfort.

"Dad just called me. He called you, but you weren't picking up—"

"My phone's dead."

"—and so he called me and he told me that Grandpa's in the hospital. He—He told me to go get you. He's driving up to Philadelphia right now. He said that we could go meet him later. We don't know what happened, he was fine and then he wasn't. Grandma said he just collapsed and—and—and—"

Topanga bit on her lower lip, fighting back the tears. Everything in the bakery was dead quiet. This was way too much for any of us to wrap our heads around.

"Okay honey. I'm going to pack up some things for an over night stay in Philly. I'm gonna grab Auggie from Ava's and I'll swing back here to pick you up. We're going to go straight there. I need you to let Katy know that we'll be gone for a bit, but I'll call her, okay?" Topanga held Riley an arm's length away, looking up at her tall daughter straight in the eyes. Riley wiped the tears from her eyes, and gave a weak nod.

As Topanga left, Riley latched onto me. I wasn't sure if she realized what she had done, but she definitely needed someone right then. I tried to calm her down, patting her back gently.

Lucas looked over at Maya, torn on what to do.

"Maya, I—"

Maya shook her head, motioning over at Riley and Me with her head. "Go to her. I'm sure whatever you were going to say isn't as important as this."

Lucas' gaze lingered on Maya for a while longer before he sighed and made his over to Riley and me. I gently turned Riley away from me, towards Lucas. The brunette clung onto Lucas' tall frame and sobbed into him.

I walked over to Maya who had taken her original seat on the couch. I sat next to her, a questioning look on my face. "Shouldn't you be over there, too? You're her best friend."

Maya nodded, sighing a little. "I am, yeah. And she deserves the absolute best. She doesn't need me coming in between something she's wanted since we were in middle school. She deserves her happy ending."

"But shouldn't you be there cheering her up?"

"I will be. She'll come to me later. She's my best friend, Zay. She needs Lucas right now. And Lucas needs her. They're made for each other. She's in love with him, Zay. Look at them." Maya shifted in her seat, sitting on her hands. It was obvious she wasn't very comfortable with what she was saying, but she said it so confidently. There she was, putting Riley's feelings before her own again.

"But what about Lucas? What about what he was going to tell you?"

Maya's eyes caught something. The little spark of hope in her eyes she had earlier suddenly vanished. I turned around to look at what she was looking at.

Riley held onto Lucas as she looked up into his eyes.

"Look at me, Riley. Everything's going to be okay."

Riley nodded and breathed out heavily, trying to steady her breathing. "I love you, Lucas."

"I love you, too."

Lucas leaned his head down for a kiss, but before anything happened, I turned away to look at Maya whose eyes were still trained on them. She closed her eyes abruptly, clenching her fists on her lap. She was trying to hold back the tears. I sighed heavily.

"They're coming over." She said with her eyes closed.

I turned around and saw them, Riley clutching onto Lucas' hand. She was still tearing up. Lucas turned to Riley momentarily to wipe the tears from her face.

Maya stood up and and walked straight for Riley, reaching her arms out and embracing her best friend in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Honey. I'm here for you."

Riley cried again, her tears wetting Maya's blonde hair.

Lucas looked down at Maya, a really sad and guilty look on his face. It looked like he was going to mouth something to her, but Maya shook her head with a small smile on her lips, masking her sadness.

"It's okay," she spoke.

I wasn't sure it if was to let Riley know that everything would be okay, if it was to let Lucas know that what he was going to tell her earlier didn't matter, or if it was to let me know that she would be okay.

Maya Hart was definitely selfless. She always made sure that Riley was happy, putting Riley's feelings before her own.

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 **The ultimate couple of this fanfic is totally up to your interpretation. It definitely is inclusive of Maya, but is it Lucaya? Or is it Rilaya? I tried to make it seem like it could have been either or, but as we all know, Zay is the captain of the Lucaya Ship, so it's definitely a little biased from his point of view.**


End file.
